People – Animal Migration Research Group

Lab Commitment to Inclusion

The philosophy of the Animal Migration Research Group is to cultivate an environment where all members can bring their full selves to the table, thereby enabling us to do good science, learn from each other’s unique contributions, and achieve our personal and professional goals. In our academic setting, we are mindful of the power imbalance inherent in our positions and of the ways that many groups have faced discrimination and exclusion from the sciences. We understand that safe, inclusive, and harassment-free environments must be actively cultivated in our day-to-day interactions. Thus, it is the responsibility of each of us to contribute to a supportive and welcoming lab culture for everyone with whom we interact, including PIs, postdocs, students, interns, staff, collaborators, visitors, and the public. To this end, our research group does not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or intimidation. Participants asked to stop discriminatory behavior are expected to comply immediately. As we strive for a personally meaningful and productive work environment, we understand we will make mistakes and, when those mistakes happen, we commit to calling each other in with kindness and to responding respectfully and with an openness to growth.

Current Lab Members

Emily Cohen (she/her)
Associate Professor
Website
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Research in Dr. Cohen’s laboratory broadly aims to understand animal migration biology in the context of the full annual cycle and the application of this information toward the inclusion of stopover and airspace habitats into conservation and management efforts for migratory species.

Joely Desimone (she/her)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Website
GoogleScholar
Joely’s current project is studying bird migration from a community ecology perspective: how species interactions influence where and when birds stopover during migration. She completed her PhD at the University of Montana on seasonal and nomadic migratory decisions. Joely was recently awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology to expand her current project to incorporate interactions between migrants and residents, read more here.

Luca Morreale (he/him)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Website
GoogleScholar
Luca is using interpretable machine learning techniques to study forests as migratory bird habitat in the Appalachian Mountains. He is co-mentored by Dr. Matt Fitzpatrick. Prior to joining UMCES, Luca was a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution and earned his PhD in Earth & Environment at Boston University.

Brian Tsuru
PhD Candidate
Website
GoogleScholar
Brian’s research focuses on the communities of birds that migrate together across North America every year. His work integrates radar aeroecology (understanding what factors drive the formation of stopover communities at a broad scale) and field methods (assessing evidence of interactions between co-migrating birds at a very fine scale). Brian received his MS from Ohio State University and previously worked on multiple projects with colleagues at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, IL.

Liz Brewer
MS Student
Website
Liz’s research is focused on the engagement of private land owners, natural resource practitioners and community members in planning forest management that incorporates the needs and uses of local human communities and the habitat of migratory birds throughout the annual cycle. Liz is co-advised by Dr. Cat Davis and is also a Conservation Marketing Specialist at the Appalachian Mountain Joint Venture where she coordinates outreach efforts across the Joint Venture’s focal landscapes. She graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry.

Forever Lab Members with new positions

Luke DeGroote Photo of Luke DeGroote (he/him), PhD (2025)
Luke’s PhD focused on the ecology of migrant landbirds including stopover habitat characteristics and use, migration strategy and phenology, and avian perception of patterned glass. He is the Avian Research Coordinator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Avian Research Center where he oversees the long-term bird banding operation.

Claire Nemes (she/her) , PhD (2023), Postdoctoral Fellow (2025)
Claire’s Postdoc project focused on identifying important stopover habitat in Maryland and identifying threats to those critical habitats. Claire completed her PhD in the lab in 2023 on songbird migration phenology, non-lethal anthropogenic impacts on migrating birds, and effects of free-roaming domestic cats on birds during the migration and non-breeding seasons. See is currently a postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

Megan Massa (she/her), MS (2023)
Megan studied the response of grassland birds to management in National Battlefield Parks. Her project also incorporated communication of her science through her artwork and design. She is now a Data Manager for Vermont Center for Ecostudies where she handles data cleaning, storage, and reporting pipelines so researchers can spend more time on what matters and less time wrangling spreadsheets and code..

Anna Cullen
Undergraduate intern (2024)
Anna completed her Associates Degree in Forest Technology from Allegany College of Maryland and is now working on her BS in Forestry at WVU. Anna’s summer research project included vegetation sampling at Powdermill and using those data to examine the relationship between capture rates of species in nets and vegetation characteristics.

Alex Donley
Undergraduate intern (2023)
Alex completed his BS in Wildlife & Fisheries from Frostburg State University in 2024 and is currently working on various field research projects. Alex’s research with us examined the relationship between flight call and species specific interactions, specifically, how call similarity may drive when and how species migrate.

A’laurenye’ McBeth
Undergraduate intern (2022)
A’laurenye’ recently graduated from Frostburg State University, majoring in Wildlife & Fisheries.

Atlee Wise
Undergraduate intern (2022)
Atlee is currently working towards his undergraduate degree at Frostburg State University, majoring in Wildlife & Fisheries.